//------------------------------//
// Interlude: Saiyan Discovery 
// Story: Dragon Ball Z: Magic's New Life 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Twilight groaned as she opened her eyes and found that she was staring up at the ceiling of what appeared to be her room, the one inside her father's ship to be exact, along with the fact that there were a few medical machines resting nearby, all of them she recognized and found that they were attached to her.

"Wha..." Twilight started to say, though before she even finished the first word of her comment she recalled exactly what she had been doing before suddenly blacking out, her forces had been helping the Grieaians with the Malians and she had been tearing Moloch apart, only for her world to black out all of a sudden, which was the last thing she remembered before waking up here.

"Please, don't get up too fast." a voice said, where she found that someone was tending to her right now, the Grieaian she had first encountered when her forces landed on his planet, who was now dressed in the medic attire of her father's force, which was the upper half of the armor and the lower half was a gown of sorts, instead of wearing the armor that he had been wearing previously, "You'll find that your body is much weaker than it was before the battle with Moloch, which is perfectly normal given that he used a poison on you that shouldn't even exist anymore, and I have a few remedies that will ease the pain, but... sadly, you won't be able to train, fight, or use any of your powers anymore, as it'll stir up the poison and chip away at your remaining life."

Twilight remained silent as she heard that piece of information, as she and her parents had assumed she'd have a long life, much like the rest of her family when one considered her father's side of things, but now she was learning that she'd likely be dead in the very near future. It was a dreadful thing to even think about, that she had thought she had more time to learn about the universe and expand her power, not to mention the power of her family's empire, over her many long years, only to have her future ripped away from her in an instant. Twilight could only imagine how her parents had taken the news that she was going to die at some point in the very near future, it even made her wonder how her uncle and her grandfather were taking the news, not to mention what all of them would do to keep her alive. The only reason she even thought about such a thing was that her father had ensured that all of their allies knew that messing with her was a bad thing and her mother had told her of the time she spent messing with some of the ancient timelines before being forced to go into hiding so the Supreme Kai of Time didn't catch her.

Those two, together, would do anything and everything to ensure her safety, hence why Twilight was so sure that both of them were already working to figure out a way to get around this, before the poison in her body ravaged her to the point where she closed her eyes and never opened them again.

"Twilight, you're okay!" a voice nearly exclaimed, where she found that her parents had arrived, and that it was her mother who had gotten the first word out while her father was glancing up from the tablet that he happened to be carrying at the moment, no doubt finishing up a call with the rest of their family, "Alirinn said that it would be some time before you would wake up, given the amount of damage that the poison did to your body... gave us quite the shock when you fell on the battlefield. Alirinn has been tending to you since that point, as his king agreed to join the empire and he offered to do anything and everything to fight the poison."

"I just wish there was more I could do... I can make elixirs to fight the poison, or to fight some of the later symptoms one will face, but I can't actually deal with the poison." Alirinn stated, where he looked at the screens and nodded, showing that while he might have come from a civilization that was less advanced than the empire, given what they had seen just before the battle, he had adapted quite well, meaning Towa had given him a crash course on everything so he could do his new job to perfection, "With the burning of the actual herb, to ensure that it would never grew again, and the destruction of the antidote containers, to prevent someone from recreating the poison from scratch, there isn't much more I can do to combat the Warrior's Bane that's coursing through her veins."

"You know, it's funny you should mention a 'wish', as Vegeta and Nappa have landed at last." Frieza said, as he had been keeping track of the Saiyans since the day they left for Earth, though while most of the planets they placed on their list had been blown up, likely Vegeta getting back at him in some manner, the pair had, at long last, reached their destination and were about to find out if the Dragon Balls were real or not.

"Oh, do we have a far viewer up and running?" Twilight asked, as she hadn't come up with a good name for the device in question, a newer item that could allow her and the others to watch whatever was happening during an attack on one of the other planets, instead of just reading the information provided by energy readings.

"It's operational... for now." Towa remarked, because if she knew Vegeta there was a chance that he was going to break it with one of his energy blasts, just to keep them in the dark about what was going on during their time on Earth, but she had to hope that it would remain intact until they figured out if the Dragon Balls worked.

Twilight carefully pushed herself into a sitting position, since she didn't want to lay down anymore, as her father enlarged the tablet he was holding, turning it into a screen they could watch, another of her inventions since there were all sorts of things she found to change or improve in the empire. The scene started in what appeared to be a village or city, a modern one that seemed to be the home of some Humans, blasting craters into the ground and knocking some vehicles with four tires off to the side, though what interested Twilight was that there appeared to be some beast people with them, as she spotted what appeared to be a wolf man and a cat girl. As the Saiyans emerged from their Attack Balls most of the people seemed to gather around the craters they had formed, while some either stayed back or hightailed it out of there as fast as they could, in fact the cat girl seemed to understand that something bad was coming and fled. Twilight was happy to see that her instincts were correct, she was able to get out of the city before Nappa used his power as a 'greeting', blasting away the entirety of the with a single thrust of two of his fingers towards the sky, leveling the entire place as Vegeta likely told him it was a foolish measure since it could have eliminated a Dragon Ball.

When the Saiyans flew off in a direction, using their Scouters to track down their target, a small ball flew after them, which was the device they were using to watch them, though Twilight noted that Earth likely had less gravity than the worlds she was used to living and training on.

As it turned out their destination was a more deserted part of the planet, because it seemed like there were no animals despite the vegetation and some pools of water that were nearby, where they found a green skinned Namekian in some martial arts clothing, according to Towa, and two small figures, one who had to be a kid and another seemed to be more like a dwarf. The kid had black hair and the dwarf had no hair at all, with the former wearing the attire that the Namekian was wearing, like he was his mentor, while the latter was wearing an orange version, though he also had six dots or markings on his forehead, an odd thing for sure. Another interesting fact was that the Namekian had no idea that he was a Namekian, like he thought he had been a demon or something, though Vegeta decided not to sully their hands by having Nappa plant the Saibamen, short green planet monsters that were roughly as strong as Raditz, a tool that the Saiyans had discovered and brought into the Frieza Force when they were dominated. Twilight hadn't trained against them when she was younger, she had been far too strong for her parents and family to worry about such a thing, but with six of them it looked like they were going to beat up the trio to get the information they needed to confirm or deny whether the Dragon Balls worked.

Three more foes showed up before the battle actually got started, a bald humanoid figure who had three eyes, as in the two normal eyes and one in the middle of his forehead, an even smaller white skinned person who could float in the air, and one more humanoid figure who had a few scars on his face while wearing the same orange attire that the dwarf was wearing at the moment.

Twilight watched as the group of six took turns fighting against the Saibamen, or at least that seemed to be the plan at first, as the three eyed figure fought one of them, knocking it around with his energy as it tried to use some of it's acid to take him down, with the Saibaman being wiped out with another blast of energy. Such a thing proved that the Humans might be just a tad bit stronger than the Saiyans expected them to be, meaning they must have heard Raditz mention that his comrades would be coming, causing the group to switch to the scarred male who got ready for another Saibaman. Again the Humans proved that maybe their data on the power levels of the planet weren't as weak as one might assume, leading Twilight to wonder if they might become a formidable force at some point in the future, before the fighter blasted his target right into the ground. As he celebrated his victory, however, the still alive Saibaman leapt up and latched onto him, utilizing the rest of it's energy to detonate itself with enough force to blast a small crater into the ground, ending with the Human having fallen as well, leaving a body behind that was no longer moving.

Truth be told Twilight really had no idea that the Saibamen could self-destruct like that, as the Saiyans had reported nothing of that sort to the scientists or researchers, so either they knew and kept quiet or had no idea and were surprised by this as well, though the smug look on Vegeta's face told her it was the former. Such a thing caused the dwarf to get angry as he found that their friend was dead, as he released a burst of power that he maneuvered into the air and let it burst into what looked like a shower of energy blasts, targeting the rest of the Saibamen and both of the Saiyans. They were lucky that the device managed to avoid being caught in the attack, despite the fact that three of the remaining four Saibamen perished, though the last one managed to survive and went after one of their foes, the kid to be exact, only to be caught by the Namekian and taken out with a quick punch to the gut, followed by a Ki blast from the mouth after being thrown into the air. Of course Vegeta and Nappa, who had also been targets of the attack, had emerged with little to no damage, save for a few minor scuff marks on their armor, displaying the terrifying difference in strength between the bald Human and the Saiyan warriors.

Nappa went on the offensive immediately, which Twilight knew was due to Vegeta, the Saiyan Prince, not wanting to sully his hands until he felt that the time was right for him to do so, where the bald Saiyan's power surprised the fighters who had gathered to fight the pair. The first attack came with Nappa rushing them and swinging his right hand in a chopping manner, removing part of the three eyed warrior's lend arm in the process, everything from the fingers to halfway up to his elbow, even though it did look like the Namekian tried to prevent it from happening. Even when the fighter tried to flee Nappa tracked him into the air and intercepted him, kicking him down into the ground hard enough to do a bit of damage to his foe, and when the dwarf tried to join in Nappa just swung his arm and his Ki carved the space in front of him out of existence with a single blast. It was clear that, despite whatever training the fighters had gone through, none of them were even ready for the might of Nappa, meaning that fighting Vegeta was out of the equation since he was even stronger, but there was always a chance that Twilight might be wrong.

The little white fighter, however, used the attack generated by that attack to get behind Nappa and latch onto his back, an attempt that was successful until he gathered his energy and detonated himself as well, in an attempt to blast Nappa to death, which only succeeded in scuffing up Nappa's armor.

When Nappa moved in to kill the three eyed fighter both the Namekian and the dwarf attacked him while he was in the air, something that seemed to be designed for the kid to attack him next, which he didn't do since he seemed scared, so it caused the other two to fire Ki blasts at Nappa while he was distracted. Nappa, as expected, dodged the attacks and was then caught up in another blast from the fighter he had tried to finish off a few moments ago, which actually broke part of his armor off, a bit of the shoulders, and came with the fighter expiring, like he had used his life force to power the attack, spooking his comrades in the process. As Nappa moved in to end the shorter fighter, since they still needed the Namekian to ask about the Dragon Balls, Vegeta stopped him as he noticed that two of the remaining three fighters mentioned that they were waiting for someone to arrive, which was Kakarot, or Goku as the Humans called him, who had died during the battle with Raditz. This was the confirmation that they were waiting for, as the dwarf informed them that someone had gathered the seven spheres and had wished Goku back to life so they could deal with the incoming Saiyan attack, though as the information caused Vegeta to stop the attack on the fighters it also caused Frieza to get up and head outside, as an idea had come to mind and he wanted to discuss it with someone else.

The next three hours were full of boredom and Twilight decided to sleep through the wait, since she needed it and her mother promised to wake her up when something interesting happened, which was where Nappa, for some odd reason, discarded his chest piece and assaulted the fighters again. Apparently the fighters had this plan to grab onto Nappa's tail and utilize the Saiyan weakness to their advantage, as grabbing hold of a Saiyan's tail usually weakened them, and might actually explain how Raditz perished, but Nappa, like most adult members of his race, had trained themselves to be rid of that weakness. Such a thing allowed him to punish the Namekian that dared to grab onto his tail with an elbow straight to the head, knocking him out for a time and allowed Nappa to go after the remaining two fighters that were likely going to be killed in no time at all, given what they had seen so far. What was surprising was that the dwarf was a skilled fighter, as he was able to sort of keep up with Nappa and even get a few decent hits in while they clashed, something that happened to impress Vegeta in the process, before he channeled his Ki into a disc above his head.

Twilight was impressed that the attack happened to have enough power to harm Nappa, as he dodged at Vegeta's quick statement about it, ending with a cut on the left cheek even though the disc itself sliced through a nearby peak like it was made out of butter, causing Twilight to jot down some notes about it.

Apparently the Namekian was capable of recovering quickly, as he fired a blast at Nappa's back and it did a bit of damage, but as he started to retaliate he paused as the fighters informed him that the last member of their group was coming, as in Goku was about to arrive. In the next moment Vegeta made a comment about Namek, or, to be more exact, the Dragon Balls that were rumored to be on the planet, which Twilight knew her father had thought about earlier, as he had returned to the chamber after his call was complete. Nappa proceeded to continue his domination of the fighters that were in front of him, even though the kid seemed to snap for a moment as his power allowed him to knock Nappa into a rock wall that was nearby, which only enraged him to the point where he desired the death of the kid. To achieve that result he quickly gathered his power and released a beam of energy from his left hand, which stunned the kid in fear once more, though it also caused the Namekian to rush in and use his body to protect the kid, effectively trading his life for the little one's, as when the smoke cleared he collapsed on the ground with his shirt torn to shreds.

In his rage the kid fired a rather powerful beam of energy at Nappa, who smacked it to the side in an instant, even though his hand did shake in response to that, but before he could do anything else a cloud flew down and saved the kid, which was the moment that another figure appeared near Nappa. It was a tall figure with spiked black hair, almost like a Saiyan, and he wore a similar set of clothing to what the the downed dwarf were wearing, though based on the expressions of the remaining two fighters it was easy for Twilight to tell that this was Goku. He was clearly enraged by the deaths of who she assumed were his friends, to the point where the earth around him started to shake and Vegeta was reading his power with his Scouter, before it all suddenly ended and Vegeta informed his follow Saiyan about the power he possessed, where Twilight caught it as 'over 9000'. Such a thing meant that his speed and power made him stronger than Nappa, allowing him to get behind the Saiyan and knock him into the ground with a kick, causing Nappa to essentially go berserk as he tried to catch Goku, who dodged his attacks, and even stood on his head for a moment, before striking him several times to the point where they even exchanged energy blasts.

Just watching the fight made Twilight want to be part of it, as Goku seemed like a worthwhile person to fight, even when he seemed to outmaneuver Nappa when he tried to deal with the kid and bald fighter, seemingly crushing his spine with a hit to the back so he could hold him up in the air.

In the next moment Vegeta, accepting Nappa's hand as he asked for help, hurled the injured Saiyan into the air and just loosed a beam of energy at him, quickly wiping out the bald Saiyan and leaving nothing of him behind, which reduced the number of Saiyans to just two, Goku and Vegeta. After that they departed for a more desert like area, which was full of nice rocky formations as the two set up their stances on two locations, though Twilight did notice that they did have a bit of a conversation, about what she had no idea since the sound system on the device wasn't the best. Once they wrapped up whatever they were talking about the two Saiyans engaged each other, clashing in the area that they picked out, as it was different from the area that had been the training grounds of the Namekian and maybe the kid, though from what she could see both Saiyans were evenly matched, even if Vegeta should be stronger. That was based on his power level, as it was higher than the other two members of his race, back when Twilight went over their power levels, though all three of them were interested in the red aura that surrounded Goku during the fight, as it seemed to be some sort of power that allowed him to boost his actual power.

Vegeta seemed to have the upper hand, matching the speed and power of his foe quite easily, even tearing off part of his shirt in the process, before Goku ripped it off and seemed to stack his enhancing power even more than before, which did allow him to put up a fight as he overpowered Vegeta. With the thrashing that Vegeta was getting he eventually snapped and leapt into the air, gathering his energy into what he called his 'Galick Gun', why Twilight had no idea and he offered no answer to her question, forcing Goku to charge his own energy in a similar manner. A collision of their beams was what they witnessed, the sheer force of the collision shattering nearly every rock around where the two were positioned, Goku on the ground and Vegeta up in the air, though based on what they were seeing it looked like Goku was able to push his power even further and sent Vegeta flying. Such a thing lead Vegeta to do something Twilight had only heard about, he used some of his power to create an orb that would expand upon mixing with the atmosphere of a planet, creating what was essentially an artificial moon, allowing him and any tailed Saiyans to transform into their other form, the Oozaru, or the Great Ape as many called it.

Sadly they were unable to watch what happened next as Vegeta's transformation into the form allowed him to crush the viewer before Twilight could get a glimpse of what was going on, causing Towa to sigh as she collapsed the screen that all of them had been watching.

"Aw, I was hoping to see the end of the fight." Twilight said, because if she was going to be stuck in a state where she was forbidden from fighting, since it aggravated the poison in her body, she needed something else to do and watching others fight seemed to be the next best thing.

"It is disappointing that we won't be able to watch the end of their clash, but Vegeta has provided us with the very piece of information we've been searching for." Frieza replied, as he didn't care as much as his daughter did, because there was a far more valuable item they had learned by watching the battles that had taken place, where he found that Twilight and Towa glanced at him with understanding on their faces, "That's right: the Dragon Balls. We're heading to Namek!"

Towa realized what her husband meant, if the Dragon Balls had the power to revive the dead, like they had confirmed just now, there was a chance that they might hold the power to cure Twilight of the poison and save her, and she could only hope that they were successful in their mission.